Erica Hawley could not hide her pride after claiming a fifth-place finish among a stellar elite women’s field in the Americas Triathlon Cup in Saint Peters, Missouri on Sunday.

Hawley, who finished 28th in the first World Triathlon Cup event of the year in New Plymouth, New Zealand last month, exited the water from the 750-metre swim in 10min 23sec, clocked 32:13 on the 20-kilometre cycle and completed the 5km run in 18:22 for a combined time of 1hr 2min 13sec, just two minutes adrift of race winner, former world champion Katie Zaferes (1:00:08).

Zaferes’s United States compatriot Gwen Jorgensen, a former Olympic and two-times world champion, finished second in 1:00:58, slightly more than 30 seconds clear of another Olympian Amelie Kretz, who rounded out the podium in a time of 1:01:31 ahead of fellow Canadian Dominika Jamnicy in fourth (1:02:06).

“Of course, I wanted to be at the pointier end of the pyramid, but getting beat by three Olympians/goats of the sport puts things into perspective,” Hawley wrote on her Instagram account.

“Katie Zaferes showing how it’s done leading from start to finish – just wow.

“Special shout-out to training pal Amelie Kretz for a well-earned third and, of course, to Dominika Jamnicky for always pushing me to my best performances. Was a great battle for fourth. Proud of myself for putting myself right in the mix.

“It was also pretty cool to see the women’s field being bigger than the men’s field. Great to see for the sport.”

As well as Hawley, Bermuda were also represented in the elite men’s field by Tyler Smith and Nick Pilgrim.

Smith exited the water in 9:43, clocked 28:07 on the cycle and completed the run in 16:21 for a combined time of 55:17, which was good enough for sixth place overall and less than one minute adrift of Canadian Charles Paquet’s winning time of 54:19.

There was also an encouraging performance from Pilgrim to finish a highly respectable 31st place in a total time 1:00:37, having completed the swim in 10:05, clocked 29:17 on the bike and finished the run in 20:00.

While he may have fallen short of his aim of sealing a podium place, for Smith, who has spent the early part of the season racing on the Africa Triathlon Cup series, it proved an encouraging end to his first block of racing this year, ahead of a period of high-altitude training in Boulder, Colorado.

“Another step in the right direction with a sixth place in Missouri this weekend,” Smith said on Instagram. “That wraps up my first big block of racing for the year.

“While I still haven’t found that elusive podium, I’ve knocked off my main target of moving up the world rankings which should allow me to get in some bigger races over the summer.

“After living the taper life for the last five weeks, I’m really looking forward to getting some training done up at altitude in Boulder. Time to work.”